Back on my traveling schedule, and today I go for two days to Richmond, VA. Anyone out there? Does anyone know if sweet tea goes up that North?
I really hope I don’t miss the season premiere of Smallville. And I’m wondering if it’s on at the same time as Law and Order.
Why does Wednesday have to be such a busy TV night?!?!?!
This is probably one of the best websites ever, just for helping decrease my folding time by half!
I’m a folding monster now!
The hospital my dad is at is VERY different from the one my mom was at. He’s in a hospital that’s only about 5 blocks from where I work, so it’s easy for me to go and visit. It looks more like a fancy library or a museum. It doesn’t feel sterile, sickly or white at all. Doesn’t feel like I’m a hospital most of the time.
I went there after work yesterday, and I have to admit, since being in the hospital so much last year, they kind of weird me out right now. A rush of memories came over me when I walked through the halls, passing by all the machines, hospital rooms and waiting areas. I was a bit on edge, and seeing my father after surgery didn’t help any. I just kept on thinking of my mother.
Today I visited my dad during lunch, bringing him some contraband pie and gyros. Unfortunately, he’s being pretty particular about maintaining his diet, so he declined. His room is pretty nice, he has it to himself and it’s pretty spacious, with a view of downtown and Lake Michigan. There’s a bench in there that converts to a bed and is pretty comfy to take naps on. The nurses are super nice and really attentive. He said that the food there is really tasty, too, and he gets a great selection of cable channels. There’s a Starbucks downstairs as well as a whole mess of other things. Pretty nice!
He’s in good spirits, which is great.
Thanks for the well wishes, everyone!
No, I haven’t been on vacation in a LONG time.
But I have finally gotten my “Vacations” photo gallery all prettied up, finally. So go ahead and check it out. Still to come in that gallery - more Disney pics (when I get my scanner hooked up) and pics from the cruise last May.
And yes…someday I’ll get my photography gallery up!
I can’t believe I forgot to write about this yesterday…I think this quote by Dave says it all…
“Sunday, September 19th, 2004, the best day ever. The Bears beat the Packers in Green Bay.”
Definitely a day to tell the grandkids about. Seriously, do you know how long this city has been waiting for this day?!?!?
Lovie Smith, I lovie lovie lovie you!
Today is my dad’s birthday. I don’t think it’s a day he’s looking forward to, in light of all that’s happened in the last year.
If you could keep my dad in your thoughts, that would be great. He’s going to have surgery today….yes, on his birthday. Life has been full of challenges lately, not only for me, but for the rest of my family.
But I’m happy to know that he had one bright spot in his weekend to lift his spirits up a bit.
Let me go back a little. I think it isn’t surprising to say that my father has had the best year since his last birthday. Not only has he had to endure going on with his life without my mom, but there have been so many other challenges. I think a lot of it has to do with criticism on *how* he’s living his life, and who he’s been including in it. What many people don’t understand is that my father was never the social one, never one to call just to say hello or talk about problems or world issues. We’re kind of similar like that. My mother would always bring him along, being the social butterfly herself. My mother’s love was out there, plain to see, to be shared by everyone she touched. My father’s love is much quieter, only seen in special moments. So growing up, I never really saw him close to any particular people. I don’t know why that would change now that my mother’s gone. But people seem to expect it to.
So it’s been tough. Tough to miss someone SO much and tough to hear that people are talking about you and saying you aren’t mourning the right way, or that you’re not doing things that are respecting your wife’s memory, or that you aren’t sharing your feelings like you should. Which is complete BS.
When your spouse is in the hospital, dying, and you’re spending every waking moment there, every night there, at her bedside. Holding her hand, talking to her, comforting her, even when sometimes she’s so far gone she doesn’t even know where she is anymore, THEN you can criticize. Because if that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.
But I digress.
Anyway, I think my dad felt really alone there for awhile. Especially with his upcoming surgery.
So my mother’s best friends, who have always cared about my father, and who had promised my mother that they would take care of her family after she was gone, did something so simple, yet so powerful, that it made my father remember that he wasn’t alone. They had a surprise party. It was a small gathering, just a few people, but it was enough to render my dad speechless. To bring tears to his eyes and the realization that people care about him, that my mother’s love lives on in the people she touched. I gave him a hug and whispered to him, “See Daddy, you ARE loved!” because I think that’s something that he had been questioning for so long.
So my father goes into surgery today, a little nervous, a little sad, but with that glimmer of light inside him that you get when you know that there are people out there that are wishing you well, that love you and want only the best for you.
Happy Birthday, Daddy.
This one was a bit interesting…
1. How long have you been online? Not today, but in total, how long have you had your computer?
If we’re talking about total computers, ever, before the internet, I’d have to say 1985. 19 years? On the internet, since 1993.
2. Do you have many online friends? Have you ever met any in person or spoken to them over the phone?
Do I have many online friends? Are there many grains of sand in the ocean? Yes. Met in person? Yes…and meeting more and more as the years go on. Spoken to them over the phone? Yes again. Love my long distance plan!
3. What are your favorite things to do while online?
Chat, waste time updating this page, go to message boards, check out other people’s blogs, see what drama is afoot, read news, find the latest free porn sites, haha, just kidding about that one…um, yeah…so, uh…where was I?
4. List your favorite websites.
There’s a couple million links over on the right side you can check out. They would all love to get hits from you. Not physical ones, silly, internet hits!
5. Do you know HTML, Javascripts? Do you create your own webpages and graphics? Do you have any websites?
Yes. Yes. Yes - many, actually, some you don’t even know about. Some I don’t even know about. Because someone’s stealing my bandwidth by using my graphics, but I have no idea WHO.
6. What do you hate about the internet? What annoys you most about it?
It’s easy to spread lies and mis-information. It’s easy to disguise yourself and pretend to be someone else, or multiple people. it’s easy to get other people’s personal information. And it’s easy to get viruses, too.
As I did with the Grammy Awards (was it the Grammy’s? I don’t remember), I’ll do my blow by blow coverage for you as I watch it with my family…
7:03 - The intro with the Swan spoof was pretty good, especially at the end when Shandling looked into the mirror after recovering from surgery, all black and blue, and said, “I’m beautiful!”
7:11 - In a epilogue to the finale of Sex and the City, Chris Noth asks Sarah to marry him. She either didn’t see it coming, or had some weird comedic timing , but her ‘No’ answer just felt a little uncomfortable and…creepy.
Nice to see David Hyde Pierce win. Then again, glad the show is over so OTHER people can win now.
7:14 - Does Heather Locklear have a deal with the devil to keep her looking as beautiful, fit, and smokin’ hot as she did when I was 8 years old?
7:23 - Cynthia Nixon wins. Once again, I’m glad the show is over so there could be 4 more slots in that category.
7:27 - Is it me, or has everyone who’s gotten an award so far gotten the orchestra send off? How long do these people have? 10 seconds? Geez!
7:30 - The “Best Writing Comedy Series” shorts were really cute, especially the guy who was writing the things that the women next to him were saying in the park. And if I ever said anything in the past about how Teri Hatcher was starting to look old, wrinkly and dusty, I take it back - right now, she’s looking GREAT! Plastic Surgery at it’s best!
7:38 - Drea De Matteo wins best supporting actress in a drama! And 5 more people will be watching ‘Joey’ this week.
7:50 - You know that that the director runs a pretty tight ship when he wins an award, and he cues the music to cut him off, and STILL keeps on talking!
8:05 - That ’skiff boat people against George Washington’ thing was funny. Not hilarious. But pretty funny.
8:10 - Elaine Stritch should get an Emmy Award for her acceptance speech. Everyone should be as funny and fiesty as she was. Though I only wish that they DID drag her body off the stage.
8:15 - Nice to see the Athens US Olympians in the audience. The look much better in normal clothes, without those cheesy wreaths on their heads.
8:28 - My weird ‘outside/bbq’ odor had won over my need to see the show, so I missed a bit while I took a shower. Anyway, just saw John Stewart win. He’s a funny guy. But I adore Conan O’Brien, so it sucks that he didn’t win. Poop!
8:34 - Every time I hear someone make a homosexual reference in an acceptance speech, thanking their partner or having to do with gay rights, I think, ‘Bravo!’ Because the more we hear about it, the more I hope people will accept that being gay and being in love ISN’T a bad thing…So to the dude who won for writing Angels in America, I hope you someday get the chance to have him make an honest man of you.
8:50 - Aww….This is just about the coolest thing I’ve seen on TV lately. The show picked and blindfolded 2 regular people and brought them on stage. Their reactions were AWESOME. The girl just looked out in the crowd, and found Jennifer Aniston and said, ‘People say I look like you!’ And Jennifer just laughed. And the guy gazed into the audience and said, all teary eyed, ‘I am a fan of each and every one of you out there.’ Aww…Cue the Kleenex!
9:12 - Please, for the love of God, stop letting Allison Janney win! But I think it was really sweet of her to let her co-nominees come up on stage. And how funny that they both had the same colored dress! Mariska Hargitay looks GREAT outside of those stuffy cop clothes she wears on Law and Order SVU.
9:24 - Nice to see Sarah Jessica Parker to get her award. What a nice speech, including just about everyone in the world. Check another name off of the ‘Not gonna win an Emmy for this show next year’ list. Too bad Jennifer Aniston didn’t win it.
9:27 - Conan O’ Brien. There’s nothing more for me to say, other than he still OWNS that stage.
9:28 - I think the whole world was hoping that John Ritter would win Best Comedy Actor, but come on, you know who would win this one. And of course, you know what I’m thinking…next year, it’s a whole new ball game in this category. But how much do you bet that Matt LeBlanc won’t be there?
9:32 - In memoriam - aka - OMG, They Died? Notable names, Captain Kangaroo, Paul Winfield, Jack Paar, Elmer Bernstein (composer), Ronald Reagan, Julia Child, Isabel Sanford, Ray Charles, Mary-Ellis Bunim (Real World Producer), Marlon Brando, Art Carney, and Tony Randall…Is it just me, or are they missing John Ritter? Or did he get his own special presentation while I was in the shower?
9:43 - I told Dave that Meryl Streep won, and that she wins everything that she’s nominated for. He then started singing ‘Over Rated! Over Rated!’ And then she mentioned something about people saying she was overrated. Coincidence? I think not! She was talking to Dave through the airwaves! Creepy, man!
Um, ok, sorry, the show was so boring and uneventful that I didn’t pay attention to it.
Next year, I swear, my play by play will be a LOT more interesting, since everyone who’s winning this year (and who have won for the last couple gazillion years) will be gone.
As you know, fellow Chicago blogger and incredible soul Aaron passed away a couple weeks ago. There’s been such an amazing outpouring on the net for him and his family, that it’s even featured in the Sun Times, which ironically is the competition for the Tribune, which had featured The Uppity Negro as a top blog several years ago.
It’s amazing and heartwarming the impact he has made on so many lives…
Fans flood Internet with grief at blogger’s death - by Lucio Guerrero
“Uppity-negro.com was one of the first blogs I ever read, and probably the very first ‘Black blog’ I discovered, back when I was still wondering if there were any,” wrote John Randolph on his blog, hiphopmusic.com. “Aaron was a pioneer in this corner of blogville that we inhabit, arguably paved the way for this site.”
“He represented his views and principles with a passion and a wry humor that we could all strive to emulate. . . . I hope he knew how respected and valued he was by this community that he helped to build, and how many lives he touched with his words.”
His voice paved the way for a lot of people to talk about issues, debate about things going on the in the world, and for people not to be afraid to voice their opinions.
Uppity-negro was a place where minority bloggers could turn for support, knowing that Hawkins would link their pages to his to assure more readers, giving everyone someone to read them.
Yeah, I was proud that I was blessed enough to be linked to Aaron’s site. because that is the mark that I’m a cool blogger!
As soon as word hit the Net, memorials sprang up. Within days there were dozens of memorials dedicated to Hawkins.
“Aaron was Chicago to me,” wrote Carol Logie. “We left for the Twin Cities in ‘99, and I was so terribly homesick. Then I heard Aaron’s voice on an NPR commentary, and it made me so happy to have that quintessential bit of Chicago in my ears. That unmistakable voice, now stilled. I can’t believe it. I am profoundly sad at the news of his passing.”
Rest in peace, Aaron. Know that you are remembered, and missed.
Well, in the last couple months, especially the last couple weeks, I’ve lost a lot of coworkers. Some I didn’t know that well. Some I was close to. Some I almost felt were like family and I was really sad to see them go. We were hanging out with a new coworker at lunch and telling him the sordid tales of the happenings of life at X-Systems in the past. It got me missing all of my old coworkers. I’ve been planning on doing this for a while, but finally I’ve got some time to do it and write out my thoughts and feelings for each of them (the ones I remember, anyway). Some left on their own, some left because of downsizing…Work just isn’t the same without them, and I miss them a lot…
First is Amy. She actually left the company when I was still in California. Before she came, I was the only girl in my part of the office. It was nice to have another chick around to talk to and balance out the huge quantity of testostetone that was in my area. Now, it’s just back to me and the guys, and I’m just not as close to the other women in the office. Amy was the same age as me, we were interested in the same things, she wasn’t a bitchy drama queen (well, most of the time, anyway! :-P) and she’s such a great person to hang around with. She has a huge heart and I really hope that one day she realizes how fantastic and beautiful she truly is!
Sammy also left before I came back from Chicago. There were some coworkers I saw as older brother types, others that I felt were like younger siblings. In a weird way, Sammy was kinda my twin. We were the same age and had such a great time being just silly and stupid with one another, and we had formed this weird, wonderful bond. He’d tell me all his fantastic and scandalous stories, which always made me laugh. And there’s no one that uses the word “prostitute” as skillfully as he does.
Bryan is probably my oldest friend at the company. He started several months after me, and after a couple years, left the company, then came back a year or so later. I’ll miss hearing him sing for no reason, his stories about various bathroom adventures, watching him dance when he was drunk, and just hearing him say, “Duuuuuuuuuuuude!”. He’s just the coolest guy! We’ve had many a good drinking moments together, and he still owes me a couple rides to the south side.
Orlando, also known as “Earl” is my huggable guy. I remember once I deemed it “Hug Earl Day” and got all the chicas in the office (and some of the dudes, too) to give him a hug. He was my watch dog. He always took care of me, always made sure I was OK when I was drunk, made sure to come and pick me up if I didn’t feel like driving, and I could always make him laugh. But don’t count on him to be on time! The day he left work was one of the saddest days at work I remember.
Jerry left the company a couple weeks ago, and I never got to say goodbye. To say that he’s one of the coolest, funnest people I know is an understatement. I owe this guy thousands of dollars in jack n cokes for the ones that he never let me pay for. He was always up to go out and have fun, and he was my partner in crime when we played pool. We rocked the house when we played pool! Most of my favorite drunken after work memories involve Jerry! The quality of my in-office porn emails will definitely suffer now.
I’m starting to see a trend here with the drinking and all!
Tim was my sweetheart. Probably my favorite gay salesman from the northwest side ever! But really, he was awesome, and he always made me feel good about myself, and he was fun to just hang around with. Always had a great time at the parties at his house (even the one that I worked as a bartender at) and I’ll never forget the trip we had in New York together when we went to a bar and he fell on top of me. Classic!
Fatima is, well, my sister, so I *think* I’ll see her again. But I’ll miss bugging her at work, our lunches together, walking to the comic book store, singing songs so only she could hear them…
Paul was my father at work. Sure, he didn’t like me in the beginning because all I did was surf the net (what?!? No one told me what I had to do, so I had to do SOMETHING with my time!) but in time, we created this great relationship. He was stern with me when he had to be, but most of the time, he was really great to talk to.
Loretta was my girl! We never had deep talks or talked on the phone or anything like that, but when I was around her, I always had a good time. She has such an aura about her, and she’s tough as nails, too. If she doesn’t like something, you’ll hear about it! To me, she was the heart of the company. It’s a shame we don’t have her anymore.
Abie was my pool playing nemesis. I once lost a bet with him and had to do 20 pushups in the middle of a bar. But was the coolest cat ever to step foot in X-Systems. He has such a great outlook on life and is an incredible artist.
Tina was always fun. Especially when Rina came out to play. But I also miss her at work, because frankly, she made my life a lot easier by doing a lot of the things that I have to do now. She is the awesomest rock chick ever, and because of her, I’m short track junkie, because I wouldn’t have had the adventures I had if she hadn’t been with me at the start.
Syed and me went to college together, and we know the same people, but we had never met stil he started working at X-Systems. I felt bad that he worked on the *other*, more married side of the office, but I’d always have great conversations with him when I’d venture out that way. Now that I know we know the same people, I’m sure we’ll see each other again.
Moises was everyone’s little brother, and although he had some whacked out views on some things (like that weird love for Usher and Shaq) he was a good guy, and a hard worker. Making the rest of us work harder so we didn’t seem like slackers. He called me a couple times when I was in California to hang out. Sorry for not calling back, dude, you’ll learn that I rarely return phone calls. Or emails. I’m lazy!
So yeah, I’m sure I’ve missed other people, but these are the people who have really stuck out in my mind. Work just isn’t the same without them. A lot of these people made this place seem like home, and we were like family and had so many fun, stupid memories together.
So if any of you are reading this (and I KNOW you are!) we’re meeting at the Hub next Friday night for some reminiscing and fun. Hope to see you guys there!
Here’s a couple pics…I’d have more, but my scanner is still packed in a box somewhere…that, and some of the pictures were never meant to see the light of the internet!
